Cotton-stalk knocker.



Patented Jne 5, |900.

R. H. CHITTY.

COTTON STALK KNOCKER.

. (Applicatox led June 1, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet l.

(No Model.)

No. 65|,29a. Patented June 5, lsn.

n. H. cHlTTY. l

COTTON STALK KNCKER.

(Application filed June 1, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

| IIE EHIlllllllllllllll-llllllll HIIHIIIII f STATESv PATEN FFIE;

COTTON-STALK KNOCKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 651,298, dated June 5, 1900.

Application tiled June 1,1899. Serial No. 718,984. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT HENRY CHITTY, a citizen of the' United States, residing at Mosheim, in the county of Bosque, State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Stalk Knockers and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relatesA to cotton-knockers, and more particularly to a device of this class which may be readily attached to or combined with a wheeled cultivator of usual form.

With these objects in view my invention consists in one embodiment thereof of sills removably secured to the frame of a cultivator and having journaled at their rear ends,A which project Vbeyond the wheels of the cultivator, ashaft bearing a drum having radially-extending arms and which is adapted to be rotated to knock the stalks against the lower bar of a U-shaped frame, whose ends are connected with said sills and whose web lies transversely of the underside of the arms.

In a second embodiment of my invention I journal upon the axle of a wheeled cultivatorframe and in a hanger depending therefrom a vertical shaft having adjacent to its lower end'radially and horizontally extending arms adapted to be rotated between the horizontal bars of a frame suspended from the axle of the cultivator-frame and against which bars the arms are adapted to knock the cottonstalks.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in which like letters of reference indicate similar parts in the several views, Figure l is a perspective view of one form of my invention. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of a second form of my invention, and Fig. 3 is a side View of the knocker-frame. Fig. Ltis a detail of a double yoke, and Fig. 5 is a detail of a shaft bearing upon the axle.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to Fig. 1 thereof, in operating in accordance with this form of my invention I provide an ordinary cultivator-frame, consisting of an axle-a, having wheels b thereon, and to which axle are connected thills o, having a tongue d extending therefrom. Adjacent to the base of the tongue is pivoted a doubletree having singletrees connected therewith, and in the rear of the doubletree is supported a seat for the driver of the apparatus. From a cnltivator-frame of this nature I remove the sills and the teeth carried thereby, and for them I substitute a pair of sills e and f, the forward ends of which are removably connected with the thills by means of yokes g and h or in any other desired manner. The sills are also connected with the axle, beneath which they-pass, by means of double yokes, as shown in detail in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the web of which double yoke liesupon the axleand the depending legs of which inclose the adjacent sill. Cross-plates im paled upon the legs of the double yoke are held in position by means of nuts engaging the threads of said legs.

At the rear ends of the sills c and f are arranged bearings 'i and 7e for the reception of the shaft of a drum Z and which shaft has at one end a sprocket-wheel m in alinement with a second sprocket fn upon the hub of the'corresponding wheel of the cultivator-frame, and upon these two alining sprockets is arranged a chain 07 through the medium of which motion is transmitted from one to the other.

Depending from the ends of the sills @and fare the vertical legs of a U -shaped knockerframe p, said legs being connected by a transverse connecting web r, intermediate of which web and the drum l are adapted to rotate a series of radial arms t, Ycarried by said drum, the radial extension of said arms being sufcient to allow them to just clear the frame. Thus it will be seen that as the machine moves forwardly the drum and its arms will be rotated in a direction to cause the lower arms to travel rearwardly and, engaging the cotton-stalks, knock them against the web r of the knocker-frame.

In Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings I have shown a cultivator-frame having wheels and from which the sills and teeth have been removed. In this form of my invention I arrange upon the aXleA of the cultivator-frame and depending therefrom centrally thereof a hanger B, having a bearing C below the axle and in alinement with a second bearing D, carried by the axle. In these bearingsis journaled a vertical shaft E, having at its upper end a bevel-gear F, meshing with a similar IOO gear Gr upon a shaftcarried in brackets I and K upon `the axle A and which shaft I-I has at its opposite end a bevel-gear L, meshing with a similar gear M upon the inner side of an adf jacent wheel of the cultivator-frame and which gear M is concentric with and adapted s to turn with the wheel.

Suspended from the hanger B and at right angles to the axle A is a knocker-frame, coml prising upper, lower, and intermediate hori-V zontal and parallel bars N, O, and P, respectively, connected at their 'adjacent ends by vertical cross-pieces R and S,'as shown,which bars and cross-pieces inclose two rectangular spaces U and V, vertically of which passes the shaft E,`which has abearing in the lower barof the knocker-frame, as shown.

Upon the shaft E and intermediate ef the upper and lower bars 'of each vspace U and V is arranged la 'collar WV, having radially-extending knocker-arms X, adapted to rotate, inhorizontal planes and knock 'the cottonstalks against the bars'of the kn'ocker-frame. The `operation of this form of my invention is evident from an inspectionoi.' the drawings in connection with the foregoingdescription, and it is not necessary that I gc into further detail.

It is evident that I may vary the specic' construction and arrangement herein shown and described and that I may build the icomplete apparatus or that portion attached to the cultivator-frame and that I may employ whatever material maybe deemed l'expedient withoutdeparting from the spirito'f my in-I vention.

Inbrder that the shaft l-I may be readily? removed from the axle A, the brackets con-Q taining the shaft-bars are held upon the axle A by means Aof bolts A', passed through per,` forati'ons in said brackets and lying at 'oppo-1 site sides of the axle A, plates B' bei-ng impaled upon said bolts and held thereon 'by means of nuts C, engaging the threads ofthe f bolts. The hanger B is likewise removably' connected with the axle AV by means of bolts D', passed through alining perforations in the hanger and axle. The bearing of shaft E upon the axle A is in a recess in the latter, as shown in detail in Fig. 5 of the drawings,

a coperating plate G', having also a recess therein, beingbolted over said shaft and held in place by means of bolts passed there# .through and through the axle A.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is-' l. Acot'ton-staflk attachment for cultivators comprising a frame adapted for removable attachment to a cultivator, said .frame including'V an upper attaching portion, anda lower portion at right angles 'thereto and' adapted tolie below the ax-le, a drum journaled in the fram e,arms carried by the drum and adapted for rotation therewith vto knock stalks against the `frame therebelow, and means Afor rot-ating the drum.

2. nA stalk-"knocker attach-ment for cultivators comprisinga iframe-adapted for removable attachment to a cul'tivator, said frame including an upper portion having means for attachment to the axle of the -.cu`l'tivator to lie therebelow and in the `plane 'thereof and alower portion lying at right angles tothe upper portion and in 'the direction of the progress fof the cultivator, said lower portion includingupperglowerand interinediaftehori Witnesses:

A. A. SHIPLEY, C. A. ELLIOTT. 

